The field of art to which this invention pertains is the production of a hydrogenated hydrocarbonaceous product from an unsaturated, halogenated organic feed and a saturated, halogenated organic feed.
More specifically, the invention relates to a process for the simultaneous hydroconversion of a first feedstock comprising unsaturated, halogenated organic compounds and a second feedstock comprising saturated, halogenated organic compounds which process comprises: (a) contacting the first feedstock comprising unsaturated, halogenated organic compounds with hydrogen in a first hydrogenation reaction zone operated at hydrogenation conditions selected to minimize the polymerization of unsaturated organic compounds and to produce a first hydrogenated stream comprising hydrocarbonaceous compounds; (b) contacting at least a portion of the first hydrogenated stream and the second feedstock comprising saturated, halogenated organic compounds with hydrogen in a second hydrogenation reaction zone operated at hydrogenation conditions selected to produce a second hydrogenated stream comprising hydrogenated hydrocarbonaceous compounds and residual trace quantities of halogenated organic compounds and to generate at least one water-soluble hydrogen halide compound; (c) contacting the resulting effluent from the second hydrogenation zone comprising hydrogenated hydrocarbonaceous compounds, the residual trace quantities of halogenated organic compounds, a hydrogen-rich gas and at least one water-soluble hydrogen halide compound with a halide-lean absorber solution in an absorption zone; (d) withdrawing a halide-rich absorber solution containing at least a portion of the water-soluble hydrogen halide compound from the absorption zone; (e) withdrawing a stream comprising hydrogenated hydrocarbonaceous compounds, the residual trace quantities of halogenated organic compounds and a hydrogen-rich gas from the absorption zone; (f) introducing the stream recovered in step (e) into a third hydrogenation reaction zone operated at hydrogenation conditions selected to hydrogenate essentially all of the residual trace quantities of halogenated organic compounds to produce a third hydrogenated stream comprising hydrocarbonaceous compounds and at least one water-soluble inorganic halide compound; (g) contacting the third hydrogenated stream with a halide-lean aqueous scrubbing solution; and (h) introducing a resulting admixture from step (g) into a separation zone to provide a hydrogen-rich gaseous stream, a fourth hydrogenated stream comprising hydrocarbonaceous compounds and essentially free from halogenated organic compounds and a halide-rich aqueous scrubbing solution containing at least a portion of the water-soluble inorganic halide compound produced in step (f).
There is a steadily increasing demand for technology which is capable of the simultaneous hydroconversion of a first feedstock comprising olefinic, halogenated organic compounds and a second feedstock comprising saturated halogenated organic compounds. Previous techniques utilized to dispose of such feedstocks which are often undesirable by-products of other processes such as epichlorohydrin production, for example, have frequently become environmentally unpopular or illegal and, in general, have always been expensive. With the increased environmental emphasis for the treatment and recycle of chlorinated organic products, there is an increased need for the conversion of these products in the event that they become unwanted or undesirable. For example, during the disposal or recycle of potentially environmentally harmful halogenated organic waste streams, an important step in the total solution to the problem is the conditioning of the halogenated organic stream which facilitates the ultimate resolution to provide product streams which may be handled in an environmentally acceptable manner. Therefore, those skilled in the art have sought to find feasible techniques to hydroconvert unsaturated and saturated halogenated organic compounds to provide hydrocarbonaceous product streams which may be safely and usefully employed or recycled. Previous techniques which have been employed include incineration which in addition to potential pollution considerations fails to recover valuable hydrocarbonaceous materials.